Have you ever listened to The XX? If not, it’s two steamy voices, one male and one female, alongside minimalist instrumentation. Flavor The XX with bluegrass/country twang and instrumentation, and you have The Lowest Pair. Their recently released The Sacred Heart Sessions highlights Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee’s sultry voices through a minimalist banjo/guitar arrangement in a truly beautiful way.

Listening to The Lowest Pair is such a pleasurable experience. Kendl’s voice is sweet and innocent, as highlighted by singles like “Rosie.” Palmer’s voice has more of a soulful sound, with power behind it. The combination of Kendl’s angelic voice with Palmer’s more earthy one come together to create an almost heavenly sound. The Sacred Heart Session rests mainly on their beautiful vocal combination, much like The XX. Yet the unique addition of their bluegrass flavor sets them apart from other minimalist bands.

Even though The Lowest Pair could easily be an a cappella group, the instruments they chose in no way take away from the vocals. The banjo and guitar make up their whole instrumentation, trading off song to song. Some songs are just accompanied by the banjo, emphasizing the beautiful country twang existing in their voices. Other songs like the more upbeat “Fourth Times a Charm” have both a guitar and banjo. “Fourth Times a Charm” sounds particularly bluegrass with the chorus made entirely up of the phrase yik a dink a do/day.

The Lowest pair’s sweet and sultry vocals paired with their minimalist bluegrass instrumentation all come together to create a standout sophomore album. The Sacred Heart Sessions is out now!